December 02, 2009

Never the same, twice

Toward the end of the phone call, one in which Jo, composed but ever droll, reported a significant personal breakthrough over her weekend, things turned to dinner; “Do you really, ‘never cook the same thing twice’?”

Truthfully, no. It's not intentional; rather, I enjoy cooking and find there’s room for improvement in almost any recipe. I seem to spend a fair chunk of reading time noodling through cookbooks, too. At lunch, over breakfast with tea, and even, very occasionally, before bed. (Though I think the latter terribly bad form and have, this year, finally put a stop to it.) I’m often found marking pages in cookbooks – naughty, dog-eared corners-turned-down marking because, ultimately, the cookbook should be a working object – and making notes of my own all over the margins.

Sometimes, I even catch myself thinking about the next meal, staring wistfully out of the window whilst washing dishes from the last. All of this informs rather than dictates the cooking. A dish may be so good that it crops up frequently, but it's never the same, twice. I'm often braising a dish of baby carrots, or fennel, or celery (or all three) before I know it, as if the contents of the vegetable drawer switch on some kind of kitchen autopilot, but I cannot help myself. Tinkering is one of lifes little pleasures.

I do, however, want to cook this simple dish again in almost – almost – the same way. The grape, olive and herb topping is very clever; a gratifying combination of sweet-salty-bitter just made for the kind of can’t-be-fussed summer cooking we’re rapidly approaching. I’ll be serving this often over summer with a loaf of good bread, a salad of snappy greens, a bottle of something cold and some stone fruit to finish. The cicadas are already trilling out there. Summer's upon us.

Baked ricotta with grapes & olives

If my habit of bookmarking is naughty, Karen Martini's liberal use of olive oil is damnation on a stick. I love it – cooking without it would be unimaginable - but don't want to drown in the stuff. If you’re feeling underweight (ha!) by all means, follow her excellent recipe. I have a hunch that it may work with fresh silken tofu, though I am yet to try the idea.

Take 250g of fresh ricotta cheese* and drain it very well. An hour in a colander over the sink should see you right. Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Using a little olive oil, lightly grease a small ovenproof dish. Slice the drained ricotta thickly and push it carefully into the base. Take a handful of seedless grapes (red, green, whatever) and slice them into rounds. Pit, if you need to, and roughly chop 2 heaped tablespoons of cured olives (black, green, cracked, whole, whatever) and chop a palmful of fresh thyme and a larger palmful of fresh oregano. Scatter the grapes, olives and herbs over the ricotta, add a little salt and pepper and drizzle the top with a tablespoon, maybe two, of delicious olive oil. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the ricotta is firm and golden at its edges. Cool before devouring as per above.

*Do not attempt this with the ricotta stacked in the supermarket fridge – it’s simply the wrong texture and you will be seriously disappointed. Ask for a wedge at the deli counter instead.

Comments

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There are certain recipes, like roast chicken, where I've reached the point where I cook it the same way everytime I do it. It's the Zuni Cafe recipe (albeit without the herbs). After years of tinkering with different recipes...stuffing them, slipping in slices of lemon, different herbs, trussing up chickens...I found the Zuni roast chicken tasted, well, like chicken. There is a roast chicken recipe in the Botanical cookbook, but try as I might, I just can't move away from the Zuni recipe.

I was never a fan of ricotta, until we found ourselves living next to a cheese factory. Now we can just pop out the door on Sunday morning and be back in a few minutes with some fresh ricotta, still warm, to eat for breakfast drizzled with honey, or topped with cherries, or blueberries...mmmmmm

Fresh, warm ricotta is a revelation, and I suspect that this weekend half our ricotta will be destined for the oven covered with grapes -this recipe sounds delish!

This is a fabulous recipe Lucy and I can actually say that I have tried it and loved it. I have saved many a recipe from Karen Martini from the sunday whatever...but...this one actually got tried out... to great results and appreciation.
Probably cut back on the oil...cant remember now...great to be reminded of it...and having lost the recipe I'm delighted to find it here.
looking forward to the next recipe...keep thinking food and sharing with us...

a beautiful post about recipes - that one sounds like a dish worth repeating - but I know what you mean about tinkering - it is one of my habits that sometimes I try to curb just to revisit old favourites - I have had recipes I tinker with over and over and finally return to the original and remember how good it is